With the end of the spring term, the Easter break, and the approach of the summer exam period, life in the School of Physics and Astronomy remains as busy as ever. This month’s digest summarises activity in March and April 2021, and please remember that all contributions are welcome!
Our Community
Read about how Oliver King’s lockdown project to capture star trails with a Raspberry Pi provided a stunning image of the February 28th fireball over the UK, and about our “Wall of Women” celebrations for International Women’s Day on March 8th. The School hosted its first EDI seminar on April 26th, to present the 2020 Space Census on the demographics of the space sector. We continue our series of “Conversations With…” posts with interviews of Duncan Ross and Leigh Fletcher. And congratulations are due to Dr. Beatriz Sanchez-Cano for being awarded a prestigious STFC Ernest Rutherford fellowship in the Planetary Science Group. Finally, Catherine Fitzsimons, our NCEO Outreach Officer, describes the legacy of the EO Detective outreach project from NCEO.
Science News
The results of the competition for observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were announced in late March, including many successes for Leicester astronomers and planetary scientists who are now eagerly awaiting Webb’s first year of observations in 2022. Research by Rosanna Tilbrook and the team behind the Next Generation Transit Survey telescope led to the discovery of four new exoplanets – NGTS-15b, NGTS-16b, NGTS-17b and NGTS-18 – between 2,500 and 3,500 light-years away from Earth.
April saw Leicester deliver a first-of-its-kind lobster X-ray telescope mirror for the Chinese-French satellite observatory SVOM (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor). The team behind Space Park Leicester announced that the first phase of construction was complete, handing over the keys to the pioneering research, innovation and teaching hub for space-related high-tech companies and researchers at Leicester. Dr. Neil Humpage describes setting up a new measurement site in northeast London, part of a ground-based remote sensing network to help understand the city’s air quality and carbon emissions. And Dr. Leon Hicks and colleagues describe how they used synchrotron X-rays to investigate how space weathering has altered the iron composition of samples from the Itokawa asteroid.
Opportunities
The School recently announced a summer internship programme for current 3rd and 4th year undergraduates, replacing the previous SURE scheme. There are lots of opportunities, open to all, to learn about some of the exciting research happening within our School, both through our programme of research seminars, as well as through the National Space Centre’s Q&A evenings (including our very own Suzie Imber), many of which are still available on their Facebook page.
Please do consider sending us posts and stories to share with the community, and we hope that you have been enjoying the warm April weather.
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